May 1, 2014

Sour Cream Banana Cake

This was supposed to be a simple Sour Cream Banana Cake, but in the spur of the moment, I decided to add Nutella to the cake. I had this vision of a beautiful dark swirl of Nutella marbling through the cake when I cut a slice, but as they say, nothing venture nothing gain, at least I now learned that Nutella will sink to the bottom the way I added it, hahaha.

That said, however, I still love the taste of Nutella with the banana cake, just have to find another way of adding it to the cake next time. Maybe mix the Nutella with a little of the cake mixture to lighten it before marbling it through the cake mixture. Anyway the recipe below is how I did it this time, but you may omit the Nutella if you just want to make the plain sour cream banana cake which still tastes fantastic without the Nutella.Makes one loaf cake

2 teaspoons Nutella (optional)https://cornercafe.wordpress.com/[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 22cm x 8cm (base measurement) x 7cm (height) loaf tin. Sift self-raising flour with soda and set aside.
2. Cream softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat in well after each addition. Stir in sour cream; mixing well.
3. Fold in half of the sifted flour mixture. Then add mashed banana and mix well. Fold in the remaining flour mixture until well combined.

4. Pour half the mixture into the prepared tin, level the top. Spoon the Nutella on the batter mixture, roughly along the centre. Pour the remaining banana mixture on top. Use a knife to cut through the mixture a few times to create a swirling effect. (Instead of doing this which is not successful as I’d found, maybe try dolloping spoonful of cake mixture and Nutella alternatively into the tin, then swirl with a knife.)
5. Bake for about 60 to 70 minutes (mine was done in about 65 minutes), or until cooked when tested. Remove from oven, wait for about 10 to 15 minutes before turning out as the cake is very tender. Let cool on a wire rack before being iced.

6. For the icing, beat cream cheese, butter and icing sugar until light and creamy. Swirl the Nutella through the icing mixture. Spread onto cold cake. (However, as I wanted to pipe the icing, I just spread some Nutella on the inside wall of the piping bag, then add the cream cheese icing and pipe.)